The talk of a new Switch model got me thinking about some things that might be staring us right in the face. In late 2016, there was a Foxconn leak for the Switch which shared a bunch of details. Now keep in mind these are taken from a Manadrian lanaguage leak and it's just a guy at a factory (so it's not like he's getting official walk through from Nintendo).
https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw...r_someone_who_producing_switch_at_foxconn_is/
But he got way too many details correct IMO to be a fake, he got the exact battery size (4310 MaH), the exact dock (mostly empty, no fan inside) stuff correct, the name of the SL/SR buttons on the Joycons correct, the neon joycons mostly correct (he says orange instead of red I think, but the red Joycon does look orange under current lighting). He gets other things wrong like saying the screen is 1080p, but it's hard to guess the resolution of a screen by just looking at it. Apparently he thought there was 4G model too but that may have been for dev kits.
Now here's where it gets interesting, he described a second Switch unit, which he clarifies as a dev kit. This is what he states about this second version of the Switch:
*A much powerful version, producing 2000x units for now *The core is 1x times bigger than the one above,200m㎡, looking it looks like 12x18 *2 extra ram, this version is 8GB *2x wifi, 1hdmi, 1x mini dp, 1x ethernet, 2x unidentified socket, 3x network led indicator, *Looks much more complex than the normal version, 6, 7 extra unidentified storage, different socket *Not sure if this is Devkit, or it's an advanced version, not sure if Nintendo will release it (22 Nov 2016 update) Confirmed it's a devkit, and Nintendo was coming to exam the devkit today *No dock for this version for now *Can be plugged into TV without docking, power is inside *Speculated provided the core is only include GPU, it would be even more powerful than PS4 pro *Screen is the same size as the normal one *It's much more powerful, but also much heavier, not feeling great in hand, speculated for 4K gaming *Haven't seen such a huge core, and it's 16nm + 100mm2 main core *There's no battery inside this version
So a much bigger and distinct chipset, 16nm (instead of 20nm for regular Switch), 8GB RAM instead of 4, much larger die size, much more powerful, no battery inside the kit, no dock needed. He cites it as maybe being above PS4 Pro in power but I think he's maybe overshooting on that, PS4 base might be more realistic.
Now ok, that's all fine and good, another rumor, right, but the second Switch he's describing actually has been leaked in photos as a dev kit right around the same time and the connectors it has lines up exactly with what he described:
This photo of a dev unit Switch leaked before the official Switch reveal and its clear looking at it that it was legit all along, that's definitely a real Switch but notice how much thicker it is. This lines up exactly with what the Foxconn leaker stated right down to every port there:
Another photo of this "fat Switch" here from a developer:
Just a theory ... but what if Nvidia has simply been able to give Nintendo a die shrunk/more power efficient version of this "more powerful, fat Switch"? In a sense they may not be "making" a Switch Pro more than they are just repurposing dev kit tech that they've already been sitting on for a few years. With a new die shrink process and certain other extraneous stuff cut out, perhaps this "fat Switch" is can be slimmed down as a consumer model for late 2019.
https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw...r_someone_who_producing_switch_at_foxconn_is/
But he got way too many details correct IMO to be a fake, he got the exact battery size (4310 MaH), the exact dock (mostly empty, no fan inside) stuff correct, the name of the SL/SR buttons on the Joycons correct, the neon joycons mostly correct (he says orange instead of red I think, but the red Joycon does look orange under current lighting). He gets other things wrong like saying the screen is 1080p, but it's hard to guess the resolution of a screen by just looking at it. Apparently he thought there was 4G model too but that may have been for dev kits.
Now here's where it gets interesting, he described a second Switch unit, which he clarifies as a dev kit. This is what he states about this second version of the Switch:
*A much powerful version, producing 2000x units for now *The core is 1x times bigger than the one above,200m㎡, looking it looks like 12x18 *2 extra ram, this version is 8GB *2x wifi, 1hdmi, 1x mini dp, 1x ethernet, 2x unidentified socket, 3x network led indicator, *Looks much more complex than the normal version, 6, 7 extra unidentified storage, different socket *Not sure if this is Devkit, or it's an advanced version, not sure if Nintendo will release it (22 Nov 2016 update) Confirmed it's a devkit, and Nintendo was coming to exam the devkit today *No dock for this version for now *Can be plugged into TV without docking, power is inside *Speculated provided the core is only include GPU, it would be even more powerful than PS4 pro *Screen is the same size as the normal one *It's much more powerful, but also much heavier, not feeling great in hand, speculated for 4K gaming *Haven't seen such a huge core, and it's 16nm + 100mm2 main core *There's no battery inside this version
So a much bigger and distinct chipset, 16nm (instead of 20nm for regular Switch), 8GB RAM instead of 4, much larger die size, much more powerful, no battery inside the kit, no dock needed. He cites it as maybe being above PS4 Pro in power but I think he's maybe overshooting on that, PS4 base might be more realistic.
Now ok, that's all fine and good, another rumor, right, but the second Switch he's describing actually has been leaked in photos as a dev kit right around the same time and the connectors it has lines up exactly with what he described:
This photo of a dev unit Switch leaked before the official Switch reveal and its clear looking at it that it was legit all along, that's definitely a real Switch but notice how much thicker it is. This lines up exactly with what the Foxconn leaker stated right down to every port there:
Another photo of this "fat Switch" here from a developer:
Just a theory ... but what if Nvidia has simply been able to give Nintendo a die shrunk/more power efficient version of this "more powerful, fat Switch"? In a sense they may not be "making" a Switch Pro more than they are just repurposing dev kit tech that they've already been sitting on for a few years. With a new die shrink process and certain other extraneous stuff cut out, perhaps this "fat Switch" is can be slimmed down as a consumer model for late 2019.
